


You'll never catch us, so just let me be.

by lucifucker



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: Boys Being Boys, I mean, Kinda, M/M, Songfic, Sorry guys, attempted suicide, author is an incredible tagger, but you should, h/c, joe/pete brotp feels, not if you dont want, post petes suicide attempt, song breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 09:29:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucifucker/pseuds/lucifucker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete reaches out as though he's going to touch him, and then retracts his hand and walks away. Patrick folds up his words and hides them in the depths of his laptop bag, and pretends his chest doesn't hurt like he's been stabbed.</p><p>------------</p><p>The story behind the writing and recording of What A Catch, Donnie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll never catch us, so just let me be.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the link to a recording of the song:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrUlVuyKN7I
> 
> enjoy! I own nothing! Clearly! since these are people and that would be slavery!
> 
> please be nice!

When Pete hands Patrick the lyrics, there are still track marks on his arms from the IV's, and Patrick can still only think _toothintoopaletoostill_ whenever their eyes meet. But he takes them. Takes the little sheet of paper, and reads over it, and tries not to cry at the way the words look so right and so wrong at the same time. 

Pete reaches out as though he's going to touch him, and then retracts his hand and walks away. Patrick folds up his words and hides them in the depths of his laptop bag, and pretends his chest doesn't hurt like he's been stabbed.

 

-0-

 

It's not until two weeks later that Pete brings it up again, lying on Patrick's bed with his feet on the younger boy's lap and his fingers sliding smoothly over his bass. 

"Did you read it?" He asks, and Patrick's actually confused for a second, because it really has been weeks, and they haven't spoken about it once. He looks up from his computer and his eyes flick to his bag as the realization dawns on him, slow and harsh. 

'"Yeah." He says, and Pete's quiet for a minute, the only sound is of the bass drifting through the room, until Pete speaks again.

"What'd you think?" Patrick blinks at him, and then looks down, swallowing thickly as though that will keep his heart from clogging up his throat. 

"I think it's fucking cruel, Pete." He says, and Pete nods slowly, letting his hands go still on the neck of the bass for a long moment. 

"Will you do it?" He murmurs, staring wide-eyed at the door and resolutely not looking at Patrick, who's just not having that. He leans forward and takes the guitar out of Pete's hands, setting it aside, and pressing him back into the mattress such that his body is draped over Pete's, with his face pressed into the crook of his neck. 

Because, maybe, if he can keep Pete still, it won't hurt as much. 

"Yeah." He says, and feels Pete's body relax under his own as their fingers link together. "Yeah, I'll do it."

 

-0-

 

Andy gets it before they've even played it for the first time, and corners Patrick outside the studio, somehow managing to tower over him in spite of the fact that neither of them is of any significant height. 

"What are you doing?" He asks, low and more serious than Andy ever is, and Patrick doesn't need to inquire as to the nature of this specific stoic-Hurley intimidation. 

"He wrote it." He says softly, shaking his head, and trying not to collapse becuase saying it out loud is so much harder than just thinking about it. 

"Is he crazy?" Andy replies, and Patrick can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not, and honestly, either way the answer is the same. 

"I don't know." Andy's quiet for a long moment, and then says, in a much less angry voice;

"Let me tell Joe." And damn, Patrick had been so wrapped up in his own bullshit that he'd forgotten that while, yes, as the boyfriend he dealt with a lot, Joe is Pete's best friend, Pete's been a part of Joe's life since he was fifteen, younger, even, and now not only has Joe had to deal with him trying to...do _that_ , he's also gonna have to deal with all of them singing about it, now. He nods, slowly, and Andy pulls him into a tight hug. 

At least he didn't get punched.

 

-0-

 

Well, _he_ didn't. The same can't be said for Pete, because twenty minutes later when they're loading the instruments out of the back of the bus, Joe comes outside with red eyes and clenched teeth and lands one right on Pete's jaw with a vicious crack, so hard it makes the bassit fall backward onto the ground. 

"You asshole." Joe grits out while Pete pushes himself up off the pavement, and, true to form, it starts to rain, little droplets falling down and splattering against the concrete as Joe steps slowly back. "You fucking asshole."

He's still saying it, over and over, when Pete's arms find their way around his waist, and Pete's face presses into his shoulder, holding him tight while the rain pounds down harder and harder. 

"I"m sorry." Joe's fingers curl tightly in Pete's hair for half a second before he wrenches himself violently back, again, and shakes his head. 

"I hate you." He growls, rubbing his face with one hand, and turning his back on Pete without another glance. "I fucking hate you."

-0-

It's kind of a group descision, well, group-nix-Pete, to call everyone else up. They do it when Pete's doing whatever else it is that he does, sleeping or eating or playing so much Call of Duty that his eyes are probably going to burst out of his head.  

Joe calls most everyone -in spite of the fact that he's not actually speaking to Pete- while Andy sits with his head in his lap, and Patrick plays nervously with a tear in his jeans, and, not-so-surprisingly, everyone agrees.

Patrick feels guilty about not fully explaining it, but also doesn't.

They're smart guys.

They'll get it. 

 

-0-

Gabe figures it out  by the time he gets to the studio, and when he comes in, dripping rainwater and with his bag slung over his shoulder, he doesn't even look at them, just walks straight into the soundroom and asks Patrick when he can start. 

Which would be fine. This isn't the first time one of them has done something to piss Gabe off, or asked Gabe to do something completely ridiculous and stupid that he definitely shouldn't be doing. No, what hits Patrick like a shot to the heart is the fact that they have to stop, twice, because they're not doing anything complicated, but every time Gabe gets to " _I hope he is a gentleman_ " his voice breaks, and they have to start it over. 

When they finally get a good cut, Gabe storms back out, and grabs Patrick, and holds him so tight that neither of them can breathe for a long minute. 

All in all, a pretty successful recording session, if what they get out of it is anything to go by. 

-0-

Two days later, they get William to do his part, which goes as smoothly as it always does with William. He shows up only slightly stoned, and leaves with a smile on his face. 

Patrick isn't even sure William had figured it out at all until he gets a text an hour after he's left, simply reading;

_Keep him safe._

To which Patrick replies:

_I will._

-0-

Pete tries to talk to Joe, again, and it ends up with Patrick patching up his split lip, and Andy pulling Joe out into the main compartment of the bus for whatever it is that Andy does when people are uspet. He walks out a half an hour later and finds them on the couch curled around each other, with Andy's fingers carding steadily through Joe's hair. Their eyes meet, and Andy nods, and Patrick nods, and nothing is fixed. 

 _  
_-0-

Travis does his part with little to no uproar, but he does stop halfway through with a completely befuddled expression on his face.

"Patrick, is this--" He cuts off, and looks down at the sheet in his hand, shaking his head. Patrick stays quiet, and, surprisingly, Andy is the one to step up and explain. 

"Yeah." He says slowly, and Patrick catches his fingers curling around Joe's shoulder out of the corner of his eye. "It's....about that." Travis is quiet for a minute, staring at Pete through the glass, and then nods. 

"Alright." He says. "Lets do this."

-0-

In a shocking twist, Alex and Doug come in together, both already having figured it out, and both fully prepared to do what they've been asked to do. 

And they do exactly that. There's no whining or crying or confusion, they both sing their parts perfectly, and leave.

And if Alex calls Pete that night to tell him that if he ever pulls this kind of shit again, he's going to come over personally and castrate him with a wooden spoon, and that Doug will hold him down, nobody talks about it. 

 

-0-

All in all, recording is pretty uneventful. For the most part, no-one has any issues with what they've been asked to do, and everyone just kind of solemnly takes this as their sworn duty or whatever. 

Te only issue arises when Brendon shows up, not having read any of the lyrics and not having listened to the demo yet because he's _sorry, guys, seriously, so fucking sorry, but I didn't have time and Ryan was wigging out and--_

They all assure him that it's fine, and go over it with him, and something deep inside Patrick prays that it won't click.

It clicks. 

Surprisingly, Brendon doesn't actually throw a complete shit-fit. His eyes widen for a second as the demo he's listening to gets to the bridge, and his jaw clenches tightly, but that's all the reaction they get from him. 

They go over it a few times without the mics, and he does fine, but once they get on-recording, he does, in fact, flip. 

And it's not like he starts screaming or thorwing things like Patrick expects him to.

But when they did his lines off-mic they were slow, and sensuous, and the perfect, soft, sexy Brendon voice.

And once the red light turns on, it's different. Not bad, but different. 

Because Brendon's entire body jerks as he sings, and he does sing, faster and harder than any of them were expecting, looking like he's about to start hyperventalating from how fast he's going, and once he's done, he almost colapses, his entire body deflating as he steps off the stool.

"Was that okay?" He asks, his eyes wide and searching, and Patrick can only nod as Brendon steps out of the studio. 

He leaves without saying another word, and Patrick is speechless until Andy sits down next to him and says;

"He didn't get out of bed for days, after." And Joe adds, "Neither did Ryan." And that pretty much expains it. 

Neither did they.

-0-

When all's said and done, What A Catch takes about a month to record and put together, and after they intially do the just-the-band shit, Pete doesn't mention it, so Patrick figures he has time. 

 

When it's finished, Patrick leaves the demo on a CD on Pete's bed, and leaves for a few hours where he knows Pete will be back. 

He comes home to find Pete on the floor with the song playing out of his laptop, and his head in his hands. 

 

Patrick sinks to his knees in front of him, and reaches out, carding his fingers through Pete's hair, slow and gentle, and trying to ignore how badly Pete's shoulders are shaking. 

"I'm sorry." Pete gasps, and Patrick just pulls him close, cradles him against his chest while Pete sobs into his shirt. "I"m sorry, Trick, i'm so sorry--"

"I know, Panda." Patrick murmurs right as Gabe's voice filters out through the room. "I know." 

-0-

They keep playing, and everything seems fine, but Joe still won't talk to Pete, and it's throwing all of them off.

They do Memphis and play it live for the first time, and while Patrick makes it through the whole thing without crying, when he looks over during the break, Joe's wiping his eyes angrily while he tries to keep playing, and Andy beats the shit out of the drums even more than usual.

It feels right, but wrong all at the same time, and it hurts like a bitch.

-0-

Everything continues to feel wrong until one day when Patrick walks into the bus and finds Pete and Joe curled up on the back bed together, with Pete's head pillowed on Joe's chest, and Joe's arms wrapped resolutely around his shoulders. 

They're sleeping like babies, and it's all Patrick can do not to snap a picture, because even if everything else in the world sucks, at least they have this.

He stands there for a few minutes until Andy wanders back and grins, too, leaning on the doorframe. 

"We're gonna be okay, right?" Patrick asks, watching as Andy crawls into the bed and curls up behind Joe, nestling his head into the crook of his neck. 

"Eventually." He says softly, and Patrick stays standing until Pete reaches for him, half-asleep, with pillow-lines all over his pink face. 

They're gonna be okay. 

 


End file.
